Slight Increase In Today's Mortgage Rates 7-21-2016

The bond market is down 6/32 (1.59%), we will see only a slight increase in today's mortgage rates.

The first of today's three economic releases was last week's unemployment figures at 8:30 AM ET. They showed that 253,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week, down slightly from the previous week's 254,000. Analysts were expecting to see an increase to 265,000 initial filings, meaning the employment sector appears to have been stronger last week than many had thought. That makes the data bad news for mortgage rates.

We had two reports posted at 10:00 AM ET this morning. The National Association of Realtors announced that existing home resales rose 1.1% last month. That was a little larger gain than was expected and pushed sales to their best level since February 2007. Because a strengthening housing sector makes broader economic growth more likely, this is bad news for bonds and mortgage pricing.

Lastly, June's Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) came in with a 0.3% increase that matched expectations. The rise means the indicators are predicting economic growth over the next several months. This is a minor report that showed no surprise, so it has had no impact on today's trading or mortgage pricing.

Tomorrow has nothing of importance scheduled for release, so it is fairly safe to assume that we could have a pretty calm day for mortgage rates. If stocks make a major move up or down, we should see bonds and mortgage rates react accordingly. But unless we get something unexpected, I would not be surprised to see the week come to close pretty quietly.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now.